The Role of the Museum Archivist in the Information Age

Museums, as institutional repositories of natural and cultural heritage, have a significant role to play within the community, a role which is advocated or at least acknowledged by society at large. The general mandate of museums to preserve the past and enlighten society as to its heritage is a valued service despite being an enormous task. An institutional archives would greatly assist the museum in its endeavours to document the past, if the value of archival materials were not underestimated, if not totally oblivious to many. How could an archival programme complement the artefactual collections? Would the general public support and use a museum archives? Why should a museum desire to establish an active archival programme? Society, which commends the role of museums as heritage institutions, needs to become aware of the important function of archives; like museums, they are valuable information-providing agencies for today's information requirements. Thus, in recently implementing a museum archival programme and carrying out an internal awareness campaign, the author envisioned and promoted her role as first, to help the museum carry out its mandate to preserve and enhance the understanding of national heritage; secondly, to play a valuable role in servicing the information needs of society in the "information age."